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Monthly Archives: May 2022

Grey

Twins Hope Miranda Rights The Ship

May 3, 2022 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes, Featured | 360 Comments

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[brid autoplay="true" video="1000828" player="13959" title="BSH_%20Week5" duration="201" description="undefined" uploaddate="2022-04-27" thumbnailurl="https://cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/9233/snapshot/1000828_th_1651023244.jpg" contentUrl="//cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/9233/sd/1000828.mp4"] Last week Prospect Itch drew up his Prospect Must Stash List. He made a caricature of each minor leaguer he was interested in and added a little mustache. It really was quite remarkable...*intern whispers in ear*...I see, so being told he absolutely did not do that, but instead he gave you all his prospects he's stashing in redraft leagues. Jose Miranda was on that must stash list, and his mustache was fantastic--*intern leans in, annoyed*--Miranda did not have a drawn-on mustache. So, I gave you a Jose Miranda fantasy back in October of last year. There I said, "(He) possesses the usual Twins’ tendencies — Twindencies? — he doesn’t strike out at all and doesn’t walk a ton. At 23 years of age, Miranda ended 2021 across two levels (Double and Triple-A) with 30/4 and .344/.400/.575 with a 12% strikeout rate. Beginning to think he’s Luis Arraez with 30 homer-power. His contact skills won’t just disappear, even if they fade a little because the majors are tougher than the minors, he’ll still hit .280 with a 17-19% strikeout rate." And that's me quoting me! To compare him to a non-Twins player, he's like a poor man's Ty France. I will call him, Miranda's In France To Stop Carrie From Marrying Mr. Big Because He's About To Get MeToo'd. With him being recalled by the Twins -- hey, I just remembered, we have a top prospect! -- I'd add Jose Miranda in all leagues. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

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See all of today’s starting lineups

# MLB Starting Lineups For Tue 8/12
ARI | ATH | ATL | BAL | BOS | CHC | CHW | CIN | CLE | COL | DET | HOU | KC | LAA | LAD | MIA | MIL | MIN | NYM | NYY | PHI | PIT | SD | SEA | SF | STL | TB | TEX | TOR | WSH | OAK
everywhereblair

Top 100 Starting Pitchers for 2022: Week 4

May 2, 2022 | Top 100 Starting Pitchers | 37 Comments

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Welcome to week 4 -- the week where all the data finally makes sense and the futures of every player become written in stone! Not really -- that's kind of the wonky thing about baseball -- it might take years to make effective predictions about player performance (see Greinke comma Zack). For me, May is where I start to vaguely pay attention to baseball again because the stats are meaningful again. DFS becomes a bit more predictable, and the rest of us fantasy ballers (Grey's mom's word) are ready to spew out meaningful and actionable takes. Like, "Sit that clown Lucas Giolito! I kid, I would never bad-mouth a White Sox player [stares at Dylan Cease].  Let's learn about some interesting players! 
Tim Speros

DFS: All Rise, Court is in Session

May 2, 2022 | DFS, Fanduel |

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Welcome back to MLB DFS, Money Monday edition. It’s me, Cousin Timmy, and I’m here to keep your Monday nice and green. We have a six-game main slate on FanDuel tonight with first pitch set for 6:40PM ET in Miami.  If you’re a Mike Trout fan or are dying to see Zack Greinke pitch 5 innings without a strikeout, you’ll have to tune-in on an empty stomach as KC @ STL and LAA @ CWS start before lunchtime on the West Coast. Please, blog, may I have some more?

Grey

Gausman Carrying A K-Gun Cuz He Owns No BBs

May 2, 2022 | Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes, Featured | 452 Comments

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[brid autoplay="true" video="1000828" player="13959" title="BSH_%20Week5" duration="201" description="undefined" uploaddate="2022-04-27" thumbnailurl="https://cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/9233/snapshot/1000828_th_1651023244.jpg" contentUrl="//cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/9233/sd/1000828.mp4"] Wish I could say Kevin Gausman's success this year will end forever, "(Pitcher's name) is going to AL East, now you better be scared, right, Grey? Grey, tell me you're supposed to be scared. Say that now. I beg of you! Tell me (pitcher's name) going to the AL East is bad for him!" Grabs Aquanet hairspray and a Zippo lighter, threatening, "Tell me, Grey, or I will burn down your house." Even with the NL getting the DH, something about a pitcher going to the AL East frightens guys more than hearing Amber Heard just ate Raisin Bran. Yesterday, Kevin Gausman went 7 IP, 2 ER, 6 baserunners, 10 Ks, ERA at 2.27. That's now 41 Ks and zero walks to start the year. That's the third most Ks to start the year without a walk since 1900 (only behind 2021 Corbin Burnes and 2017 Kenley Jansen). It doesn't matter if a pitcher has two pitches, if one is unhittable like Gausman's splitter, and it doesn't matter what division a pitcher is in if he's unhittable. Anyway, here's what else I saw this weekend in fantasy baseball:
Jakkers

Top Dynasty Keepers – Looking At Eric Lauer And Matt Brash

May 1, 2022 | 2022 Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Baseball Keepers, Keeper Leagues | 5 Comments

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Finding great pitching is always always a chore during the fantasy season. If the pitchers on the waiver wire were sure things, they would have been added during your league's offseason draft. But this doesn't mean finding a good pitcher is impossible. It just means you have to study the pitchers and make an informed decision about whether a certain pitcher is just hot or is a legit add and keeper. Two players we will look at today are Eric Lauer of the Brewers and Matt Brash of the Mariners. Who are Lauer and Brash? Lauer was drafted twice, once out of high school by the Blue Jays in the 17th round of the 2013 draft and then with the 25th pick of the first round of the 2016 draft by San Diego. Lauer had a great college career at Kent State, going 23-10 with a 1.86 ERA and a K/9 rate of 11.2 while walking only 2.5 batter per nine innings.  In the four minor league seasons, he was only 9-10, but he had a 2.85 ERA, 1.175 WHIP and still 10.2 K/9, Brash was drafted in the fourth round out of Niagara University by the San Diego Padres. In college, Brash put up nice, but not great numbers.  He started 29 of the 38 games he appeared in over three years, going 12-7 with a 2.97 ERA. In 190.2 innings of work, he struck out 215 hitters, or 10.1 K/9, with a 3.1 BB/9 rate. His walk rate increased in the minors, where in 25 career games he had a 4.2 BB/9 rate but with an outstanding 13.1 K/9 rate. So, why are they still available? Lauer was a pedestrian pitcher his first major league three seasons, posting ERAs of 4.34, 4.45 and 6.37. But last season the lefty rebounded with a 3.19 ERA. Fantasy owners are coming around on Lauer, at least in Yahoo leagues where he rostered on 66% of teams. However, he is only rostered in 49% of ESPN leagues. Meanwhile, Brash is owned in only 30% of Yahoo leagues and 17.8% of ESPN leagues. While he is ranked as a Top 100 by several publications, the fact he didn't dominate hitters in college and the minors has left doubt about him by fantasy owners. Is that doubt about Brash correct? Is Lauer really for real? Let's take a look.
The Lineup Builder

DFS: Hello Again, Everybody….It’s A Bee-Yoo-Tiful Day For Baseball

May 1, 2022 | 2022 Fantasy Baseball, DFS |

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It’s a travel day for me.  As you read this, I’ll be sitting comfortably in 15C cruising through the friendly skies for the first time in over two years, making my way toward the Windy City.  Of course, the very first thing I did when this business trip came up… check the respective schedules for the Cubs and Pale Sox.  Please, blog, may I have some more?

The Itch

Prospect News: Atlanta’s Arm Factory or Stone’s Throwing Rocks Tonight

May 1, 2022 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 29 Comments

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In researching for this week’s article, I kept seeing flies in the ointment, so to speak. I’ve lost track of the ground. MLB’s new pre-tacked balls fresh from a humidor seem to have created more fade on change-ups, more run on 2-seamers, more cut on wake-shifters, more dive on sliders and less distance off the bat. The general hysteria has finally trickled into my thinking about how to evaluate minor league baseball players. My local Cedar Rapids Kernals are not using a humidor. I couldn’t verify the same for every team, but I’m willing to guess that less than one percent of minor league parks are using a humidor. Which baseball they’re using . . . you’d probably have to be a veteran big league pitcher to tell the difference on a given night.  So how does this affect my eyes when watching MiLB.tv? I’ve been protected from it a little because the video feeds are rarely so crystal clear I can see the ball off the bat with my outfielder eyes and predict with some degree of accuracy where it will land in an instant.  This invitational, predictive aspect of a long fly ball is a big part of what makes watching baseball fun.  “Is that a home run!?” asks the excited fan’s mind. “Oh farts, it landed on the track,” the game responds, over and over and over again to the extent that you start to get a little frustrated. Years of built in baseball-watching from this camera angle have trained us all to play along in this regard, so we’re all experts in our minds to the extent that our self-confidence allows. My eyes haven’t been deceived on the warning track much in the minors this year. I don’t know how to react to the idea that a prospect might need significantly more power and better plate skills than he shows in the minors to thrive in the majors. For now, I’m planning to slow-play it rather than overreact. 
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